Feeding mechanism for sewing-machines.



No. 763,624. 7 PATENTED JUNE 28, 1904.

D. NOBLE.

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR SEWING MACHINES.

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No. 763,624. I PATENTED JUNE 28, 1904. 1). NOBLE.

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR SEWING MAGHINES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 16, 1903.

N0 MODEL. 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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I PATENTED JUNE 28, 1904. D. NOBLE. FEEDING MECHANISM FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 16, 1903.

4 SHEETSSHEET 3.

N0 MODEL.

IN VEN TOR ATTORNEY No. 763,624- PATBNTE D JUNE 28, 1904.

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.16, 1903. N0 MODEL.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4 A TTORNE Y UNITED STATES Patented June 28, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

DONALD NOBLE, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGN OR TO WHEELER & WILSON MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTI- CUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 763,624, dated June 28, 1904:.

Application filed September 16, 1903. Serial No. 173,467. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DONALD NOBLE, a sub ject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Feeding Mechanisms for Sewing-Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in sewing-machines for tacking or staying seams, pockets, straps, &c., and also for attaching rings, hooks, buckles, and the like to fabrics, and particularly to that type of sewing-ma- 5 chine for overseaming wherein the needle is alternately vibrated transversely to the line of feed movement, commonly known as the Zigzag machine.

The object of the invention is to provide a machine of this type with improved means for clamping the material andpresenting it to the action of the stitch-forming mechanism.

' The invention consists, broadly stated, in a sewing machine having a spring actuated 5 Work-clamp adapted to be automatically returned to normal or starting position upon the completion of a tack or seam as the clamp is opened to remove or shift the work, the construction, arrangement, and operation of parts 3 being hereinafter fully pointed out and distinotly claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is a front elevation, partly in section, of azigzag sewing-machine equipped with my improved clamp. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of such machine, partly broken away-and showing the clamping mechanism and bed-plate in 4 section. Fig. 3 is a cross-section taken on the line A B of Fig. at. Fig. A is a perspective View of a portion of the machine, showing my improved clamp applied thereon. Fig. 5 is a perspective View of the plate and disk for supporting the feed-slide and throat-plate detached. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the clamp removed from the machine and illustrating the manner of attaching a ring to the fabric.

tion of the said hook-driving shaft.

Fig. 7 is a bottom view of said clamp. Figs. 8 and 9 are perspective views, of feed-bars for 5 attaching rings and buckles, respectively. Fig. 10 is a perspective view of one of the feed-slide-lifting springs. Figs. 11 and 12 illustrate samples of work which may be done on a machine equipped with the bars of Figs.

'8 and 9, respectively, and the present complemental clamping and feeding mechanism.

In practice machines of this character are generally used 1n connection with a stop-motion and counting mechanism in order to make a predetermined number of stitches and then automatically stop, as in buttonholo and various other machines; but since such mechanisms maybe of usual or any approved form all illustration thereof is omitted from the 5 drawings.

The bed-plate 1, overhanging arm 2, needle-gate 8 and means to oscillate it, the needlebar 4:, mounted in' the needle-gate, and means to reciprocate said bar, the spring-depressed 7 presser-bar 5, and its divided presser-foot 6 may all be as usual. So, also, may be the feed-shaft 7 the hook-driving shaft 8, and other parts shown, but not particularly described. On the feed-shaft is mounted afric- 7 5 tion-clutch 9 of any approved construction, having an arm 10 held up by a spring 11 against a cam 12 on the hook-driving shaft, so as to receive an impulse for every revolu- On the 0 feed-shaft is mounted a ratchet-wheel 13, which is given the necessary step-by-step motion by means of this friction-clutch, arm, and cam.

Mounted in suitable ways 14 on the bed-plate 8 5 is a plate 15, having in it a well l6,provided with anotched flange 17, and in this well is mounted a disk 18, having its opposite edges rabbeted, as at 19, and provided with an annular lug 20, which fits in the well and rests upon 9 the flange thereof, said. lug provided with the projections 21, which fit inthe notches of the flange 17 to keep the said disk in alinement.

22 is a feed-slide arranged transversely of the bed-plate and slotted longitudinally and having the longitudinal edges of its slot rabbeted complementally to the rabbeting of the 1 sides 19 of the disk 18 and held down upon said disk by means of plates 23, which plates are secured to the disk, as by means of screws, so that while the disk remains stationary within the well of the plate 15 the feed-slide may have a motion in the direction of its length back and forth across said plate.

2 1 is a throat-plate mounted upon the disk and having a suitable needle-hole.

25 is a feed-bar provided with any suitablefeeding-teeth 26, and 27 is a feed-bar provided with a suitable abutment or projection to receive the work. As shown inFig. 8, this abutment may be in the form of a cylinder 28, slabbed off at one side and adapted to receive a ring 29, Fig. 11, to be sewed to a fabric, and, as shown in Fig. 9, the bar 27 may have an angular projection 30 to receive a buckle 31, Fig. 12, to be attached to a strap. These are merely illustrations of the character of the bar 27 that would be used. The feedslide is provided with a rack-bar 32 at one end, which is adapted to cooperate with the ratchet-wheel 13 to effect a one-way or forward movement of the feed-slide for feeding the material to the stitch-forming mechanism. On opposite sides of this rack-bar are attached to the under side of the feed-slide springs 33, (shown more particularly in Fig. 7 and in detail Fig. 10,) and these springs, as shown in Figs. 2 and I, bear against the top of the bed-plate and tend to lift the feedslide, and consequently to disengage the rackbar 32 from the ratchet-wheel 13.

Suitably mounted rigidly upon the feedslide is a spring 3 1, the forward end of which is provided with complemental bars 35 and 36 to cooperate with the feed-bars 25 and 27 to clamp the work to the feed-slide when the spring-depressed presser-bar and its foot are let down upon them. Thus the spring 3 1, with its bars 35 and 36, becomes, in effect, a cloth-clamp.

The cloth-clamp and the feed-slide to which it is rigidly afliXed are connected by a coiled spring 37 with the disk 18, one end of said spring, as shown in Fig. 7, being connected to the disk 18 and the other end to a pin 38 on the spring 34:.

The operation is as follows: The feed-slide 22 being in its normal or retracted position, as shown in Fig. 2, the material is introduced between the clamp and throat-plate in the usual manner. The presser-bar is then lowered, causing the work to be firmly gripped between the feed-bars and clamp, the pressure of the presser-bar being sufficient to compress the springs 33 between the bed-plate and under side of the feed-slide and force the rackbar 32 into engagement with the ratchetwheel 13. The machine is now started and the desired number of stitches made in the work, after which the machine is brought to a standstill, the presser-bar raised, and the work removed. Raising of the presser-bar will permit thesprings 33 to lift the rack-bar 32 out of engagement with the ratchet-wheel 13, whereupon the spring 37, which has been distended by the feeding movement of the slide 22, will be free to act to retract said slide to its normal or starting position.

WVhat I claim is 1. In a sewing-machine, stitch-forming mechanism, a feed-slide mounted upon the frame, a work-clamp carried by said slide, a spring-actuated presser adapted to depress 'said clamp to grip the work, and means for feeding said slide to present the work to the action of the stitch-forming mechanism, including a rack-bar and feed gear-wheel, in combination with means for disengaging said rack and gear simultaneously with the removal of pressure upon the work, and means for returning said feed-slide to starting position when said rack and gear are disengaged.

2. In a sewing-machine, stitch-forming mechanism, a feed-slide mounted upon the frame, a work-clamp carried by said slide, a spring-actuated presser adapted to depress said clamp to grip the work, and means for feeding said slide to present the work to the action of the stitch-forming mechanism, including a rack-bar and feed gear-wheel, in combination with means for disengaging said rack and gear simultaneously with the removal of pressure upon the Work, and a spring for returning said feed-slide to starting position when said rack and gear are disengaged.

3. In a sewing-machine, stitch forming mechanism, a feed-slide mounted upon the frame, a work-clamp carried by said slide, a spring-actuated presser adapted to depress said clamp to grip the work, and means for feeding said slide to present the work to the action of the stitch-forming mechanism, including a rack-bar and feed gear-wheel, in combination with springs interposed between the feed-slide and the machine-bed for disengaging said rack and gear simultaneously with the removal of pressure upon the work, and means for returning said feed-slide to starting position when said rack and gear are disengaged.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 15th day of September, A. D. 1903.

DONALD NOBLE.

Witnesses:

W. S. GARDNER, C. N. WORTHEN. 

